Fondazione LIA

Promoting books and reading in all forms, traditional and digital, through activities of education, information, awareness and research, guaranteeing the principles of accessibility, integration and socialization. This is the idea behind the Fondazione LIA, formed in 2014 to take up the legacy and ensure continuity to project LIA, put in place in 2011 thanks to a partnership between the Italian Publishers Association, its service company Ediser Srl and mEDRA Srl (a joint venture between AIE and the university consortium CINECA). The partnership had the support of MiBACT, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the close cooperation of the Italian Blind Union (UICI).

The Foundation promotes research and technological innovation, the spread of a culture of accessibility and networking, the awareness of this issue among publishers and other companies in the digital publishing industry. One of the activities of the Foundation is to manage and enrich the catalog of e-books available for consultation on www.libriitalianiaccessibili.it and which now has more than 9,000 titles.

Other initiatives include the monitoring of the evolution of digital scanning solutions, which is carried out with the support and collaboration of the Istituto Cavazza, consulting services on accessibility in realities other than publishing, such as banks or public institutions that publish digital documents, and training projects.

In this latter area, the Foundation launched 4LIA, an information and training project on accessible digital reading for people with vision loss, made possible thanks to funding by Intesa Sanpaolo's charity fund. The main objective of the project was to provide an updated view of reading opportunities offered by digital editorial contents, tablets and smartphones in terms of accessibility. 4LIA also fosters an upgrade path for readers with vision loss who are already using new technologies, providing updated information on the choice of reading solutions available.

The course, held in Bologna on May 22 and June 5 at the Institute for the Blind Francesco Cavazza, and in Milan and Rome in the following weeks, is free.

For more information: www.fondazionelia.org.